Petroleum generation and migration in the Cambro-Ordovician Laurentian margin succession of NW Scotland

NERC is thanked for continued funding of the Argon Isotope facility, which is housed at SUERC. D.M. was in receipt of a NERC PhD studentship. Fluid inclusion and organic biomarker data show that there was formerly a hydrocarbon system in the Cambro-Ordovician Laurentian margin rocks of NW Scotland....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Geological Society
Main Authors: Parnell, John, Bowden, Stephen, Mark, Darren
Other Authors: University of St Andrews. School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
GE
QE
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12610
https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2017-059
Description
Summary:NERC is thanked for continued funding of the Argon Isotope facility, which is housed at SUERC. D.M. was in receipt of a NERC PhD studentship. Fluid inclusion and organic biomarker data show that there was formerly a hydrocarbon system in the Cambro-Ordovician Laurentian margin rocks of NW Scotland. Oil fluid inclusions occur in stylolitized Eriboll Formation sandstone, in K-feldspar cements with an 40Ar/39Ar age of 415 ± 5.5/5.8 Ma (2σ, analytical precision/full external precision). Organic extracts from Durness Group black limestones yield biomarker ratios characteristic of high thermal maturity. Organic maturation to yield oil probably occurred during orogenic deformation along the Moine Thrust Zone. The recognition of a hydrocarbon system in Scotland adds to a huge hydrocarbon province in Laurentian rocks including North America and Greenland. Publisher PDF Peer reviewed